Story Comments

Daren - Thanks for the mostly positive ForTwo comments. Your limiting yourself to the slow lane must be about you. I drive my heavier SMART cabrio routinely in the fast lanes of the Boston area Interstates at speeds exceeding 80 MPH. There is no slugishness under my control - in fact the thing is a little 'go-kart'. Your shifting is again mostly about you. In manual mode it is responsive and enormously fun to drive. Perhaps it is just that you are much too young to have grown up with all the agility that shifting requires. In autmmatic mode, it is much less fun. And finally you failed to mention the significant blind-spot the rear pillar creates. But all-in-all I'm glad you enjoyed at least some aspects. Sorry though you missed so much.

What is American anymore? Does a Honda built in America with 75% American parts count? Does a Chevy built in Canada with 75% part from there count? We are missing the point. Instead of SUV craziness back about 5 years ago, US car companies should have had a solid plan B. They don't. The Big 3 (Chevy, Ford, & Chysler) dumped the econo box for big dollar SUVs. Now they are hurting and once again imports are taking over. Sound like the 70's?

Yes many autos built in previous decades do get better mileage, due primarily to more stringent emission standards. Better fuel economy does not directly relate to less pollution. As far as purchasing US made autos goes, take a look under the hood. The car may have been assembled in the states, but the lion's share of individual components have been outsourced to the lowest bidder in an effort to increase profits. When will we realize that to have ones cake and eat it too really is an impossibility?

Those little microcars are fine and all but you can eliminate anyone with a small child and the need for a car seat. Plus, all it's going to take is one bad accident where someone gets killed and the press will start talking about 'if so and so would have been driving an SUV from previous generations little Johnny would still be with us.'

I wonder why modern cars don't get better milage. Our 92 Escort with regular gearing got 48 MPG highway. The 01 OLDS Alero gets 30-31 highway. My old 86 Buick Century with v6 and fuel injection got 38 highway.

Unlike reddog007, I like GM cars because they handle well, are quiet,reliable, and have proven to be a good value. We are in a recession now. Imagine what would happen if Americans bought only cars built in North America?
The recession would only be a memory because the automobile industry drives the economy.

Reddog007 should give American cars a look see. He will be pleasantly surprised. Drive a Malibu the next time you rent a car. Stop sending your money and jobs overseas when you buy an overpriced German car.

I'd even be glad if they stopped pumping up the size of SUV's and other utility vehicles. Some of us still need/want them... but they don't need to be wider every year. Toyota, please put the 4RUnner on a diet... and at least get it back to its 1998 form.

My other car which I drive daily is a '69 Buick Skylark. I am the orignal owner and after 39 years it looks like it was just driven off the show room floor. Gas mileage depends on how you drive. How long a car will last depends on how a person takes care of it.

Amazing how poor the mileage is in these cars. My 27 year old VW Rabbit diesel pickup truck gets 50mpg highway and 43mpg around town. Yes, lets all pay tens of thousands of dollars for cars that get poor mileage compared to some cars built 25 to 30 years ago. Lets generate all kinds of toxic waste on huge battery packs for hybrids that get about the same mileage, if that, of some cars built 30 years ago.

Yes but any GM produced car is a real piece of trash that won't last.
Can you see why the world is shunning anything made in Detroit becasue
it 3rd class transportation. You may be happy for a while but just
wait it will fall apart just like all the other GM crap.

I dumped they 27 years ago and won't go back.

I have a 2005 Pontiac Gran Prix, 6 cylinder. Gas mileage depends on how a car is driven. I have kept up with my gas mileage on a spread sheet and know exactly what I get city/highway.

City driving I get 26.01 lifetime average. On the highway I get 31.81 to 33.18 depending on speed driven. It makes the gas mileage on these golf cart dodgem cars look like a joke. They are not a 10th of the car I drive. Thier mileage in reality is less or at best barely equal to what I am getting and these so called experts keep pushing them as high gas mileage cars...GIVE ME A BREAK!